The Year of the Salamander

Desmond, Gabriel, and Sam return in this sequel to Specter's Gamble. Two years had passed since the events in the first book; Gabriel is an analyst for one of the bigger banks; Desmond is an instructor at the military school; and Sam keeps obsessing about cleaning the house.
One day, Gabriel comes home early because he just happened to fall in love with a white fluffy puppy, whom he immediately adopted, to Sam's greatest joy, and to Desmond's even greater horror. Three start living with the dog, adjusting to changes.
Everything is great until Desmond finds out that this particular year is a huge event. It is the year of the Flaming Lizard and Winter Equinox at the same time. The same year that almost caused a major catastrophe for all human kind 98 years ago. They face even greater problems when they find out about the sacrifice that has to be made in order to bring forth one of the old gods. A discovery that makes Desmond feel cold in the midst of the hot late-August day...
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Chapters:

Green-eyed man watched the young man scrub the
kitchen counter with envious dedication. Finally, he hemmed and
rummaged through his pockets until he found a hair band in one of
them. He pulled his long black hair into a ponytail and swiftly
wrapped the hair band around it.

"You don't have to do that, you know," he said, and the young
man glanced at him above his shoulder.

"I know," he nodded with a small smile. "I want to though...
You and Gabriel both have jobs, and I just sit on my ass all
day..." he shrugged. "I feel like a leech," he finished and
returned to scrubbing the counter.

"Nonsense," the green-eyed man said seriously. "The amount of
money that you brought in definitely makes you anything but the
leech."

"It's not like I worked my ass off to get that money," the
youngster shrugged again. "Just an inheritance..."

"Doesn't change anything," the black-haired man pulled a pack
of cigarettes out of his pocket, and was about to light one of
them up, when the front door opened and someone walked inside the
house.

"I... Ummm... I adopted it," the other man nodded guiltily,
and Desmond closed his eyes.

"I am allergic," he made a weak attempt.

"No, you are not," Rayhe sighed. "Listen, one of the guys I
work with brought three of them in today... I swear, I wasn't
even thinking of getting one, but then this thing right here..."
He demonstrated the said thing. "He just marched up to me
and..."

"Peed on your shoe?" Desmond opened his eyes finally. Rayhe
hemmed.

"No," he said with less guilt in his intonation. "He nipped at
my ankle..."

Desmond narrowed his eyes.

"If I knew that you are getting off on that sort of thing, I
would've done it a long time ago..." he said in the even
voice.

Rayhe laughed.

"No," he shook his head. "It was a playful nip, you know? The
other two, they were just standing there, you know? They looked
kinda scared... But this one..." he looked at the furry thing he
held in his hands. "He didn't seem even a little bit scared. Then
I picked him up and..." he coughed.

"The rest is history," Desmond said miserably.

"Hey, Gabriel, what's up...?" the young man walked out of the
kitchen and stopped talking the minute he saw what was in
Gabriel's hands. His eyes started to grow huge, just like
Desmond's did a few minutes ago. "Oh my God..." he said finally.
"Please don't tell me that we would have to give him back!"
Desmond snorted at that. "It's a 'he,' right?"

"Yes," Gabriel sighed. "It's a 'he'... And no, we won't have
to give him back. He is ours... Well," he shrugged. "Yours,
mostly..." and he shoved the puppy into young man's hands. "Happy
Solstice," he muttered.

"This covers every single holiday until your birthday,"
Desmond said firmly. Young man's birthday was in February.

"Okay," the youngster said simply with a huge grin. "Thanks,
Gabriel...!"

"You are welcome, Sam," Gabriel sighed again.

"Start training this thing right now," Desmond said darkly.
"Because if he pisses in my room, he is dead!"

"He won't," Sam smiled even wider, and then the puppy moved
his ears in a thoughtful motion, and suddenly, a warm stream of
yellow liquid spilled all over Sam's shirt. "Oh, shit!" he cried
and instinctively moved the dog away from himself, thus causing
the liquid to spill all over the floor.

"Have fun," Desmond nodded and stepped over the puddle,
heading to the kitchen.

He came back a minute later, a cigarette stuck between his
teeth.

"What are you going to name it?" Gabriel asked while Sam was
pulling off his shirt.

"I don't know..." Sam shrugged and threw the shirt on the
floor, wiping the puddle with it.

"Name him Goldie," Desmond hemmed without pulling a cigarette
out of his mouth. "As in 'Golden Shower'..."

Sam laughed and picked up his drenched by now shirt.

"I'll name him Des, how's that?" he said and threw the shirt
into the trashcan.

"Oh, hell, no!" Desmond said seriously, ignoring Gabriel's
snort. "You are not giving my name to a dog!"

"Fine," Sam sighed and kneeled in front of the puppy, who
immediately licked his hand. "I'll name him..." He thought for a
few seconds. "Specter," he nodded finally, and dog's ears perked
up at the name. "Hey, he likes it!" Sam smiled again.

"Shut up, Rayhe," he said finally and walked away without
waiting for the reply.

"I didn't say anything," Gabriel sighed mostly to
himself.

...It has been almost two years after Specter's demise; almost
two years after they finally left that city; almost two years
after they settled in a new place. At first, they decided to
simply live off the percentage they got from their bank accounts,
which was plenty. That and Sam ended up inheriting every single
talon his father had, since Sam was the only child - and that was
a very hefty amount of money. LeVoughn-Senior sure knew how to
make cash, it seemed.

Living off the percentage turned out to be not as glamorous as
it seemed at first. Boredom attacked them rather quickly, and
Rayhe was the first one to start looking for a job. Desmond
followed the same suit in a month or so. At first, he had no idea
what kind of job he would even qualify for - he doubted there was
an open spot for killing instructor. For Rayhe it was easy - he
liked numbers and such, so he found a job in one of the larger
banks almost instantly as an analyst. Desmond almost gave up on
the whole job idea, when Gabriel told him one of those days that
they were looking for another instructor at the military
school.

"Military school?" Desmond snorted at that. "Do I look like a
drill sergeant?"

"Not really," Gabriel narrowed his eyes critically. "But you
are a good strategist and you do know a hell of
a lot about poisons," he nodded. "That and your weapons knowledge
and technique are quite unique," he added after a minute when
Desmond still looked doubtful.

Finally, Desmond was convinced enough to apply for the
position. To his greatest surprise, he got the job a week after
he turned in the application. To his even greater surprise, he
realized after the first month or so that he actually enjoyed
teaching.

Sam tried convincing both of them - Gabriel and Desmond - that
he needed to find a job as well, even though part-time, but both
men flatly refused. "Just stay home, kid," Desmond told him. "God
is my witness, we are in no need for money, and frankly, I don't
want you to hang around some creeps and freaks..."

"I'll be fine," Sam rolled his eyes. "Desmond, I am not a kid,
okay? I am twenty-two!"

"You are a kid," Desmond nodded and that was the end of the
conversation.

Right now, it was July, therefore Desmond was on vacation,
since the school closed for the entire three months of summer.
Rayhe kept working his usual shift; Sam kept obsessing about
cleaning the house; and Desmond kept lifting his legs
absent-mindedly while reading something every time the kid would
attack his feet with a vacuum cleaner. Sam tried to talk both men
into getting a dog or some other animal (even a fish-tank would
be fine), but he would inevitably get the same 'No way in hell!'
answer. Finally, he gave up and stopped even mentioning
it.

This white fluffy puppy came out of nowhere, Desmond thought
gloomily. Rayhe never showed any interest in dogs; in fact, he
was in the same boat with Desmond - no pets. And today, all of a
sudden, he falls in love with that furry white ball. "Dammit,"
Desmond grumbled, remembering the size of that ball. The puppy
was very young, that much was obvious even to Desmond who knew
nothing about dogs. That white ball of fur was maybe eight weeks
old if that. Nevertheless, he was rather large ball with lots of
white fur. "That shit will be everywhere," Desmond thought, and
then shrugged. He is not the one who will have to vacuum it, so
it's all good.

He turned his head when the door to the bedroom creaked open.
Rayhe walked in, and his expression was very cautious, as if he
expected Desmond to throw something at his head.

Okay, he didn't know anything about dogs - nothing about their
diet, nothing about training, not a single clue about necessary
shots and whatnot. What he did know, however, were some certain
breeds. Akbash dog was one of them.

"Are you out of your mind?" he said finally, very weakly.
"That thing will be the size of an overgrown pony!"

"Yes," Gabriel said as mildly as before. "That breed is quite
large..."

"Des, come on..." Gabriel sighed and walked closer even though
he was worried that he would end up getting hurt. "Sam wanted a
dog for the past two years... He is stuck here all by himself
while we are working, and he can only raid the bookstore that
many times...! Come on, Des, you are not the one who will have to
worry about walking and training that dog... Hell, you don't even
have to feed him, how's that? I'll do it if Sam can't for some
reason, okay? Des, come on..."